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I disagree with very little of what she said. OK, so she doesn't know how to code, she admitted that, and she doesn't know a great deal about technology. She co

I disagree with very little of what she said. OK, so she doesn't know how to code, she admitted that, and she doesn't know a great deal about technology. She confuses graphic design and coding at one point. Here is an MP on Question Time saying all the things I want to say on Question Time. Coding is a vital skill that our education system is ignoring. Children that grow up without any idea of how computers work will be disadvantaged. An economy that has no young work force even introduced to coding will not be digitally productive. When I'm trying to sell the "teach children to code" course that I occasionally run I like to use this metaphor: people that don't know how computers work to even the most basic level aren't people that don't know how an internal combustion engine works. They're people that only know how to get taxis. So don't hate on this woman (even if she is Tory, even if she does know powerful people) because she's standing in our corner fighting our fight.

pessimizer 13y ago
I'm pretty sure I was taught to code in a day. 10 PRINT "HELLO" 20 GOTO 10 My first hack was: 10 PRINT "IM A COMPUTER" 20 GOTO 10 Now the system was leaking internal information. The next 30 years have just been variations on a theme. Spawned Erlang processes, in my head, are 20 GOTO 10. edit: The thing that freaks me out about computer illiterate people being in charge of teaching people computing is that they aren't equipped to choose the experts to hire. She can only evaluate them by their connections, their pleasantness, their respect from peers (who also can't be evaluated), and their massive marketing budgets.
- WilliamMayor 13y ago
  I remember hacking print "Hello world!" into print "Hello World!" and crossing my fingers, pressing the button, and being amazed that it worked! I was convinced that somehow it would be more complicated than that.
  - Beliavsky 13y ago
    I wish Guido van Rossum had left well enough alone, so that the above line was valid code in current Python (it works for Python 2, not Python 3).
- tim333 13y ago
  When I was about 15 our teacher was supposed to give a 30 min class on programming but knew nothing about it so I stood up and taught a bit along the lines of 10 INPUT "Name",N$ 20 FOR X=1 to 10 30 PRINT N$;" is an idiot" 40 NEXT which was quite a hit with my fellow teens. Sophisticated stuff eh?
  - pessimizer 13y ago
    Sounds like the beginning of a wonderful career as a web UX designer:) Or v0.0.0.1 of http://foaas.com/ http://foaas.com/ ...
benchin 13y ago
This is a great point - I think the article really fails to acknowledge that there is a heavy technical presence behind this initiative. Amongst the advisors are people like Rohan Silva, Zach Sims, and several CTOs and founders that are extremely well-placed to direct the initiative properly. It might have been a clumsy performance, but there's a serious need to address the current under-qualification of teachers to teach programming in schools so we should be glad someone, somewhere has found financial and political backing to tackle it.
onion2k 13y ago
Most of what she said was obvious, but there was one point that she got badly wrong: You can't really learn to code in a day. You can learn a few bits and pieces, what a variable is, what basic flow control is, displaying something on a screen. But that doesn't make you a coder. By implying that coding is something that can be done with an hour here and there, she's setting children up for failure. If she wants to really have an effect on education and the digital skills we'll need children to grow up with she should be treating the subject of coding as a serious topic that deserves respect, time and a great deal of support from government and industry alike.
- theknown99 13y ago
  Disagree. You can learn all you need to know in a day to get "hooked". As stated elsewhere, 10 print "Hello!" 20 goto 10 Then just variations on that theme, lookup other functions etc. We don't need schools to teach programming either. Anyone who is interested in it can learn it themselves easily. My son just made his decisions for GCSE options. He decided against doing IT, because they just play around with spreadsheets. He's learning to code at home, by himself, writing games and apps for his phone. That's the way to do it IMHO... At school, you're going to be in a class where 50% couldn't care less about programming, and the rest will just slow you down. Self teaching is much better.
  - ghaven 13y ago
    > You can learn all you need to know in a day to get "hooked". So what? That's not the point, of course you can become strongly interested in something in a short space of time. The problem is you really can't learn to code in that time. > Then just variations on that theme, lookup other functions etc. This statement is so broad as to be meaningless. Would you say you know quantum mechanics just because someone wrote down a few axioms for you and the rest is 'just' busywork and maths? > At school, you're going to be in a class where 50% couldn't care less about programming, and the rest will just slow you down. Self teaching is much better. If the self teaching environment is available and good, of course it is. However, there's nothing special about computing here, and one reason we have schools in the first place is that the environment is not always otherwise available.
gadders 13y ago
"Even if she is Tory". Oh dear.

pessimizer 13y ago

I'm pretty sure I was taught to code in a day. 10 PRINT "HELLO" 20 GOTO 10 My first hack was: 10 PRINT "IM A COMPUTER" 20 GOTO 10 Now the system was leaking internal information. The next 30 years have just been variations on a theme. Spawned Erlang processes, in my head, are 20 GOTO 10. edit: The thing that freaks me out about computer illiterate people being in charge of teaching people computing is that they aren't equipped to choose the experts to hire. She can only evaluate them by their connections, their pleasantness, their respect from peers (who also can't be evaluated), and their massive marketing budgets.

WilliamMayor 13y ago
I remember hacking print "Hello world!" into print "Hello World!" and crossing my fingers, pressing the button, and being amazed that it worked! I was convinced that somehow it would be more complicated than that.
- Beliavsky 13y ago
  I wish Guido van Rossum had left well enough alone, so that the above line was valid code in current Python (it works for Python 2, not Python 3).
tim333 13y ago
When I was about 15 our teacher was supposed to give a 30 min class on programming but knew nothing about it so I stood up and taught a bit along the lines of 10 INPUT "Name",N$ 20 FOR X=1 to 10 30 PRINT N$;" is an idiot" 40 NEXT which was quite a hit with my fellow teens. Sophisticated stuff eh?
- pessimizer 13y ago
  Sounds like the beginning of a wonderful career as a web UX designer:) Or v0.0.0.1 of http://foaas.com/ http://foaas.com/ ...

benchin 13y ago

This is a great point - I think the article really fails to acknowledge that there is a heavy technical presence behind this initiative. Amongst the advisors are people like Rohan Silva, Zach Sims, and several CTOs and founders that are extremely well-placed to direct the initiative properly. It might have been a clumsy performance, but there's a serious need to address the current under-qualification of teachers to teach programming in schools so we should be glad someone, somewhere has found financial and political backing to tackle it.

onion2k 13y ago

Most of what she said was obvious, but there was one point that she got badly wrong: You can't really learn to code in a day. You can learn a few bits and pieces, what a variable is, what basic flow control is, displaying something on a screen. But that doesn't make you a coder. By implying that coding is something that can be done with an hour here and there, she's setting children up for failure. If she wants to really have an effect on education and the digital skills we'll need children to grow up with she should be treating the subject of coding as a serious topic that deserves respect, time and a great deal of support from government and industry alike.

theknown99 13y ago
Disagree. You can learn all you need to know in a day to get "hooked". As stated elsewhere, 10 print "Hello!" 20 goto 10 Then just variations on that theme, lookup other functions etc. We don't need schools to teach programming either. Anyone who is interested in it can learn it themselves easily. My son just made his decisions for GCSE options. He decided against doing IT, because they just play around with spreadsheets. He's learning to code at home, by himself, writing games and apps for his phone. That's the way to do it IMHO... At school, you're going to be in a class where 50% couldn't care less about programming, and the rest will just slow you down. Self teaching is much better.
- ghaven 13y ago
  > You can learn all you need to know in a day to get "hooked". So what? That's not the point, of course you can become strongly interested in something in a short space of time. The problem is you really can't learn to code in that time. > Then just variations on that theme, lookup other functions etc. This statement is so broad as to be meaningless. Would you say you know quantum mechanics just because someone wrote down a few axioms for you and the rest is 'just' busywork and maths? > At school, you're going to be in a class where 50% couldn't care less about programming, and the rest will just slow you down. Self teaching is much better. If the self teaching environment is available and good, of course it is. However, there's nothing special about computing here, and one reason we have schools in the first place is that the environment is not always otherwise available.

gadders 13y ago

"Even if she is Tory". Oh dear.